Data centers represent hosting facilities that typically host a few tens up to thousands of computers, e.g. servers, routers, switches, etc., organized in racks or cabinets. Power has become one of the most difficult and expensive items to manage in such data centers. Up to 40% of data center power supplies are not working optimally. These power supplies consume excessive power resulting in heating, malfunctioning devices, and finally occasional or regular power shutdowns. Networks are out of control after a power failure in the data center and often customers are aware of the data center problem before the data center's operator. In 50% of the cases, the data center operator is informed by the customer on a power shutdown that has occurred in the data center. The data center operator however may have difficulties to remote control the switches, airco's, or other electronic devices in the data center when the network is out of control or even down. Indeed, as a result of for instance a human error or a Denial of Service (DoS) attack, network access may be lost as a consequence of which the data center operator is locked out and remote access to the PDU has become impossible.
As opposed to a dumb power distribution unit (PDU) that has no instrumentation and is not manageable, the present invention concerns a smart power distribution unit or data center management unit (DCMU) that can be metered, is equipped with one or more displays, and can be switched, i.e. individual outlets can be switched on or off remotely. Smart PDUs typically feature serial data ports such as RS232 ports or USB (Universal Serial Bus) ports for controlling hardware in the data room like for example servers, switches, routers, etc. In addition, smart PDUs typically have a port for network connectivity such as an RJ45 interface for Ethernet connectivity. This way, the data center administrator is enabled to access the smart PDU from a remote terminal or PC with network connectivity in order to turn on/off certain outlets, to schedule power shutdowns, to control the load, etc.
US Patent Application 2004/047095 entitled “Method and/or System and/or Apparatus for Multiple Interface Remotely Configurable Power Supply” from Cyber Switching, Inc., for instance discloses a PDU (FIG. 24 in US 2004/0047095) with power inlet (AC Inlet), plurality of power outlets (AC Outlets), a processor (Rabbit2000 Microcontroller), wired data ports (RJ45 Serial Jack) and a network interface (RJ45 Ethernet Jack) enabling remote access to the PDU (par. [0048]-[0049]).
When, as a result of for instance overload, a human error or a Denial of Service (DoS) attack, the network connectivity is lost, the smart PDU is no longer remotely accessible and a technician must be dispatched to intervene on-site and troubleshoot the network environment. The data center may be unmanageable for some time and customers may be left without service until the technician has travelled to the data center and restored the network connectivity.
In summary, although existing smart PDUs are equipped with a network interface such as an Ethernet interface (e.g. an RJ45 connector), they are not well-protected against network isolation, i.e. situations where the network connectivity is disrupted as a result of a human error, DoS attack, or the like.
It is an objective of the present invention to disclose a smart PDU or data center management unit (DCMU) that overcomes the above identified shortcomings of existing PDUs. In particular, it is an objective of the present invention to disclose a DCMU with improved protection against network isolation resulting from human errors, DoS attacks and the like, and with guaranteed ability to manage the data center remotely even if the usual network connection is down.